Kwon In-sook
{{Short description|South Korean activist (born 1964)}}
{{family name hatnote|Kwon||lang=Korean}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| native_name = {{nobold|권인숙}}
| alma_mater = Seoul National University
Rutgers University
Clark University
| office = Member of the National Assembly
| constituency = Proportional representation
| termstart = 30 May 2020
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|08|28|df=y}}
| birth_place = Wonju, Gangneung, South Korea
| party = Democratic
| module = {{Infobox Korean name/auto
|hangul=%권인숙
|child=yes}}
}}
Kwon In-sook ({{Korean|hangul=권인숙}}; born 1964) is a former South Korean labor organizer who inspired women in South Korea to form the Korean Women's Associations United (KWAU).{{Cite book|title = Global Feminisms Since 1945|last = Louie|first = Miriam Ching Yoon|publisher = Routledge|year = 2000|isbn = 0415184908|location = New York|pages = 125|chapter = Minjung Feminism: Korean Women's Movement for Gender and Class Liberation|editor-last = Smith|editor-first = Bonnie G.}} Kwon is the first woman to bring charges of sexual assault against the South Korean government.{{Cite book|title = Bipolar Orders: The Two Koreas Since 1989|url = https://archive.org/details/bipolarorderstwo00lynn|url-access = limited|last = Lynn|first = Hyung Gu|publisher = Zed Books|year = 2007|isbn = 9781842777428|location = New York|pages = [https://archive.org/details/bipolarorderstwo00lynn/page/n48 34]–35}} She was also considered by historian Namhee Lee to be "an emblematic figure of South Korea in the 1980s; she embodied the passion, the ideals, and the conflicting aspirations of the 1980s democratization movement." Kwon later became a feminist scholar in South Korea.
Biography
As a middle school student, Kwon recalls feeling "duped" by the Korean government in power.{{Cite book|title = Korean Society: Civil Society, Democracy and the State|url = https://archive.org/details/koreansocietyciv00arms|url-access = limited|last = Lee|first = Namhee|publisher = Routledge|year = 2007|isbn = 978-0415770576|location = New York|pages = [https://archive.org/details/koreansocietyciv00arms/page/n131 119]|editor-last = Armstrong|editor-first = Charles K.|edition = 2nd|chapter = The South Korean Student Movement: Undongkwon as a Counterpublic Sphere}} She had been involved with student movements at the time, and said that "It was hard to swallow the betrayal and anger against adults to had fed lies to the young." Kwon went on to become a student activist in the democratic movement while in college.
Later, as a Seoul National University student, she obtained a blue-collar job by not reporting her university credentials.{{Cite book|title = Troubled Tiger: Businessmen, Bureaucrats, and Generals in South Korea|last = Clifford|first = Mark L.|publisher = East Gate|year = 1998|isbn = 0765601400|location = New York|pages = 267}} She lied about her education in order to "organize factory workers into a trade union."{{Cite book|title = Human Rights in Korea: Historical and Policy Perspectives|last1 = West|first1 = James M.|publisher = Harvard Law School|year = 1991|isbn = 0674416058|pages = [https://archive.org/details/humanrightsinkor00will/page/247 247–248]|editor-last = Shaw|editor-first = William|chapter = 1987 Constitutional Reforms|last2 = Baker|first2 = Edward J.|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/humanrightsinkor00will/page/247}} In June 1986, she went to the police station in Puch'ŏn in order to address charges that she had falsified documents.{{Cite book|title = Assessing Reform in South Korea: A Supplement to the Asia Watch Report on Legal Process and Human Rights|publisher = Asia Watch|year = 1988|isbn = 0929692047|location = Washington, DC|pages = [https://archive.org/details/assessi_xxx_1988_00_5973/page/33 33]|url = https://archive.org/details/assessi_xxx_1988_00_5973/page/33}} She had also been charged for taking part in a "violent demonstration."{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/us/iowa/cedar-rapids/cedar-rapids-gazette/1986/07-20/page-11?tag=kwon+in+suk&rtserp=tags/?pep=-kwon-in-suk-|title = Police Use Tear Gas to Bar Korean Rally|date = 20 July 1986|work = Cedar Rapids Gazette|access-date = 2 November 2015|via = Newspaper Source}} Kwon was sexually abused at the police station by an officer, Mun Kwi-dong. Kwon went on to file sexual abuse charges against the government, which were initially considered "exaggerated" by authorities, even though the government had already admitted that she was "forced to remove her jacket and T-shirt and was beaten 'in the breasts three or four times' on two occasions during the questioning." In July 1986, a rally in protest of her treatment was sponsored by Kim Yong-sam and the New Korea and Democratic Party (NKDP), but was stopped by police with tear gas.{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/us/iowa/cedar-rapids/cedar-rapids-gazette/1986/07-20/page-11?tag=kwon+in+suk&rtserp=tags/?pep=-kwon-in-suk-|title = Thousands of Police Block Seoul Rally|date = 20 July 1986|work = Burlington Hawk Eye|access-date = 2 November 2015|via = Newspaper Archive}}
During press coverage of the case, the South Korean government micromanaged how the press would report what happened to Kwon, including guidelines that changed the tone of the case and which also cast Kwon as a liar and possibly a communist.{{Cite book|title = Freedom of Expression in the Republic of Korea|publisher = Asia Watch|year = 1988|isbn = 0929692020|location = Washington, DC|pages = 51}} The initial reporting of the story was a single line at the bottom of the social page in Korea Daily.{{Cite book|title = The Making of Minjung: Democracy and the Politics of Representation in South Korea|last = Lee|first = Namhee|publisher = Cornell University Press|year = 2007|isbn = 9780801445668|location = Ithaca, New York|pages = [https://archive.org/details/makingofminjungd00leen_0/page/91 91, 213–214]|url = https://archive.org/details/makingofminjungd00leen_0/page/91}} A spokesman for the government called her allegations of sexual assault a "routine tactic used by student radicals." Eventually the police did admit that "she had been sexually molested during interrogation."{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/us/south-carolina/aiken/aiken-standard/1987/07-08/page-2?tag=kwon+in+suk&rtserp=tags/?pep=-kwon-in-suk-|title = South Korea Frees 357 More Political Detainees|date = 8 July 1987|work = Aiken Standard|access-date = 2 November 2015|via = Newspaper Archive}}
Kwon was eventually imprisoned for eighteen months for falsifying identification documents.{{Cite news|url = http://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/1986/12/10/kwon-insuk-korean-sexual-abuse-victim-sentenced-to-18-months-imprisonment&post_id=34724|title = Kwon In-Suk, Korean Sexual Abuse Victim, Sentenced to 18 Months' Imprisonment|date = 10 December 1986|work = UCA News|access-date = 1 November 2015}} Criminal charges against Mun were dropped because while "the prosecution office said its investigation into Kwon's complaint found some truth" there was still not enough evidence for them to proceed with the trial.{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/jp/japan/tokyo/pacific-stars-and-stripes/1986/08-23/page-4?tag=kwon+insuk&rtserp=tags/-kwon-insuk-|title = Former ROK Police officer Cleared In Harassment Case|date = 23 August 1986|work = Pacific Stars and Stripes|access-date = 2 November 2015|via = Newspaper Archive}} In addition, the prosecution claimed that while she had been beaten on the breasts while nude, the government did not "consider these acts sexual abuse." Kwon was released from prison in 1987, along with hundreds of other political prisoners in Korea. Mun was eventually assessed $45,000 in civil penalties after "extensive legal maneuvering."{{Cite book|title = Human Rights in Korea: Historical and Policy Perspectives|last1 = Cohen|first1 = Jerome A.|publisher = Harvard Law School|year = 1991|isbn = 0674416058|pages = [https://archive.org/details/humanrightsinkor00will/page/200 200]|editor-last = Shaw|editor-first = William|chapter = U.S. Foreign Policy and Human Rights in South Korea|last2 = Baker|first2 = Edward J.|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/humanrightsinkor00will/page/200}} Kwon's case is considered an illustration of cover-ups regarding political neutrality of the South Korean judicial system in the mid-1980s.
Kwon has gone on to become a feminist scholar whose work analyzes patriarchal constructs of masculinity in militarized areas and how these concepts affect women, children and civilians.{{Cite journal|url = https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_korean_religions/v005/5.1.pae.html|title = Feminist Activism as Interfaith Dialogue: A Lesson from Gangjeong Village of Jeju Island, Korea|last = Keun-Joo|first = Christine Pae|date = 2014|journal = Journal of Korean Religions|access-date = 2 November 2015|volume = 5|issue = 1|pages = 55–69| doi=10.1353/jkr.2014.0001 | s2cid=143730492 |url-access = subscription}}
Legacy
The news that Kwon had sued regarding her sexual abuse would "rock Korean society for months. It was shocking that a young woman would go public with an accusation that was more likely to damage her own reputation than that of the accused." Traditionally, sexual and physical abuse was considered an "unspeakable experience," but Kwon's public testimony helped reframe the issue of sexual abuse in South Korea by "recasting her experience from the 'shame of the victim' to the 'crime of the perpetrator."{{Cite book|title = Sex, Love and Feminism in the Asia Pacific: A Cross-Cultural Study of Young People's Attitudes|last = Bulbeck|first = Chilla|publisher = Routledge|year = 2009|isbn = 9780203888810|location = New York|pages = 78}} The acts of sexual abuse as described by Kwon led to the creation of the KWAU which would influence Korean politics in the 1990s.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwon, In-sook}}
Category:Feminist studies scholars
Category:Academic staff of Myongji University
Category:Liberalism in South Korea
Category:Seoul National University alumni
Category:South Korean feminists
Category:South Korean activists
Category:South Korean women activists
Category:South Korean LGBTQ rights activists
Category:Asian social liberals
Category:Rutgers University alumni
Category:Clark University alumni